


Lessons in Life

by CrystalHopeDragon



Series: Days with Danny [11]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Danny is a bamf, Danny takes a hit, Gen, Guns, Incorrect first aid, Minor Swearing, Sam might as well be a professional but most aren't, do keep the wound elevated though and call for medical assistance, possible trigger warning, seriously never remove the bullet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-07 02:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8778988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalHopeDragon/pseuds/CrystalHopeDragon
Summary: In which a nerd is pushed to his breaking point, Danny takes a hit for someone he honestly doesn't care about too much, and explains why he did it. Life lessons for all, from the perspective of a boy who's already partially lost his life. (Don't need to read the other stories in my list to understand it, but it will probably be more fun if you have. Any needed notes to help understand will be at the beginning. No worries, they are brief.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> A few notes in case you haven't read my other stories. Danny's parents, Valarie, and Mr. Lancer all know about his identity in this. He has taken more than one gory hit from ghost fighting in this time line, and it's been about two years since it all started here, so they are 16 and Jazz is at college. With that out of the way, enjoy!

Most didn't have time to blink, he didn't really even have time to think. It had all happened so fast, and he had instinctively moved to protect even before his mind could tell him why it was a bad idea. He hadn't had time to go ghost, he'd just moved as fast as he could (still faster than a human, even untransformed) and taken the hit. And for the love of all ghosts, like usual, it hurt.

"Mikey." He said calmly, standing strong while facing Dash even as his knees shook from the pain. "Drop the gun now, please."

"Danny." He whispered in horror as the gun tumbled from his fingers, still too shocked to move. 

Danny took a deep breath (immediately regretted it, but he didn't have time to dwell on that or the new burst of pain from his right shoulder) and turned around to face Mikey, ignoring the bullet in his back. 

"Under what circumstances did you think this was a good idea?" He gritted out as calmly as he could, determined to get his point across no matter the cost. "You are one of the smartest boys I know. Heck, that's part of why he targets you! As such, you should know what would happen to you in most situations after you did this. Did you even think about your future when you decided on this? Why would you think it's worth it, why would you think HE was worth it?" He said, finally tumbling to one knee as he couldn't maintain his composure perfectly through the pain. Still, he didn't stop. He also didn't notice Dash flinch at his words, he was too focused trying to get them out.

"It - it just hurt, so much." Mikey finally whispered, holding softly onto his bruised left arm. Dash had hit him so hard there last week it had turned black, and still wasn't even near healed, "It never stops! He never quits! No matter what you do: ignore him, run from him, hide, he always finds you and it's always worse! How do you take it?! You're his number one punching bag, why would you defend him?! He's a monster, he needs to vanish! Why would you protect him?!" Mikey finally screams while hitting the ground as well, clutching his head in his hands. He was near hysterical at this point, both from the mentioned stress and what it had lead to. The class had been deadly silent this whole time, except for Sam sneaking slowly closer to Danny with bandages and tweazers. 

"Because he's not a monster! Trust me, I've seen monsters. He's just a stupid, over powered teenager! He's upset over something and he takes it out on us! It could be a bad home life, he could be mad he's not as smart, who knows! And yeah, it fucking sucks, and he is kind of a bad person for it, but that doesn't mean he deserves to die! No one," and Danny's voice goes from the previous shouts to a near whisper at this, though with the dead silence going it still rings out loud and clear, "no one deserves to die this young, especially when they haven't even gotten a chance to live yet, much less redeem themselves. That goes for you too. Do you know why," and Danny pauses for breath for a second because Sam had snuck up behind him and was checking under his shirt to inspect the damage, "Why I took this bullet? Because if you hit him, it wouldn't have been over for just him, but you too. I won't press charges, but his parents would have; and though you are still going to be in a world of hell after this, at least it won't be for murder." 

He flinched then as Sam had used his distraction to get the tweezers in his wound and yank the bullet out. It had hurt like hell, but it was at least over quicker since he hadn't seen it coming and hadn't had a chance to clench up. Tucker had gotten to them by this point and they were carefully bandaging him so as not to show his heavily scared torso. Didn't need the school seeing the damages from the ghost fights, after all. It was also a good thing he was so used to severe pain, any normal person would have blacked out by now, not given an inspirational speech. 

"You both still have so much to live for, and I'm not going to let you steal it away. Now Valarie, if you would kindly confiscate the gun." She was already there by the time he finished the sentence, "You are all going to have a lovely talk with the local hospitals councilor -as it seems the high school one has been doing jack shit- while I have a talk with my physician." Which was, unbeknownst to them, his mother. "Just remember this." He said right as his classmates were starting to carefully ease away. "Life is too precious to take for granted, no matter who's it is." At that he finally passed out into Sam and Valerie's arms as they carefully laid him down and kept the bullet wound elevated. Tucker had texted Danny's parents during the speech to vaguely mention Danny had been injured, so they had just arrived with the RV, stretcher already heading towards them when Danny passed out. He was loaded and gone in under two minutes, the whole group in tow. 

As they left, the situation was slowly getting handled. Lancer, who had witnessed the whole thing, couldn't overlook Dash's behavior any longer, even with his abusive home to take into account. As much as he hated to say it, Mikey had also just attempted to murder his classmate, and successfully shot a different one. Both were in for more punishment then he ever wanted his students to receive, and he wasn't a lenient teacher. He knew the Fenton's would take care of their son, so he did what he should have done a long time ago and took control of his school. Both boys were going to the local psych ward for evaluation and he needed to see if he could help with Mikey's sentencing. He was a good kid, he didn't deserve jail time because Lancer neglected his job out of pity for the bully. It was time for him to truly take responsibility. 

Outside of Lancer's internal struggles and him leading the two boys involved away, the others had slowly begun to whisper. The whole thing had been like a horrible dream. Dash nearly dying, Mikey going crazy from his torment, and Danny getting shot. There was lots to discuss and many different views on the whole thing, but there was one thing everyone could agree on. Danny Fenton was far more bad ass than anyone gave him credit for.


End file.
